Reflecting on 12 years with Oakleaf Partnership

Last month as I celebrated my 12th birthday at Oakleaf, I started to reflect on what that meant. Working in the HR industry I am regularly discussing the importance of retention and development both internally and externally and wanted to share some of my thoughts following my experience. Obviously, this will be a different journey for all but following my new colleague Thomas Godden’s post on the importance of onboarding, I thought it would be a fitting follow on.

 

Firstly, I believe that it is vital that everyone who is involved in recruiting individuals needs to understand the journey that their company is going through as well as the role requirements. So often we are given a job brief without a wider context as to where the role fits in the larger company ‘jigsaw’. Personally, this was a huge part of my decision-making process when I joined Oakleaf and I believe one of the biggest reasons why I have continued to enjoy a career here for over 12 years. What others on face value could have seen as the same role in a smaller business, to me offered the opportunity to be part of a business in growth, having broader exposure to leadership and a ‘bigger voice’ which I was craving.

 

The other key part has been the development opportunities I’ve had exposure to. I think we can too easily categorize this as only internal learning programs and can miss the value from mentorship both internal and external. A lot of my clients are looking at reverse mentoring programs which I think offer a huge amount of value. One of our most successful initiatives, Oakleaf Academy, was created via our graduate population. I have benefitted hugely from Oakleaf’s positive approach to internal mentorship, opening up different thoughts and judgements allowing me to create what I believe is a balanced and continually challenged mindset.

 

Everyone will have their own experiences and thoughts on this, and I would be keen to hear them as we are entering a market where the retention and continual development of our employees is more important than ever.

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